Electrostatically insulated coiler head mechanism



y 1958 J. R. WHITEHURST 2,832,999

ELECTROSTATICALLY INSULATED COILER HEAD MECHANISM Filed March 14, 19555s 56 GI 60 INVENTORZ Joe R. WWTEH U251.

ATTORNEYS 2,832,999 "Patented May 6, 1958 ELECTROSTATICALLY INSULATEDCOILER HEAD MECHANISM Joe R. Whitehurst, Bessemer City, N. (1., assignorto ideal Industries, Inna, Bessemer City, N. C., a corporation of North'Carolina Applicafion March 14, 1955, Serial No. 494,171

6 Claims. (Cl. f19-159) This invention relates to coiler head mechanismsfor drawing frames, carding machines and the like and it is particularlyconcerned with improvements in a coiler head mechanism of the typedisclosed in United States Patent No. 2,700,797 issued to Elvin B.Robinson on February 1, 1955.

As is well known in the art, a coiling mechanism is disposed above a canand rotates relative to the can for depositing sliver in the can in aspiral manner. As the can becomes filled, the coils of sliver protrudeabove the can, bear against the lower surface of the coiling mechanismand raise the coiling mechanism slightly upon the can being filled tothe desired capacity. It has been customary to make the coiler mechanismentirely from metal, as well as the means supporting the coilermechanism and the rotary motion of the coiler mechanism on the partssupporting the same as well as against the coils of sliver in the filledcan have resultedina great amount of friction and the creation of staticelectricity. As is well known, the static electricity developedby therelaimproved coiler head wherein a metal annular gear is supported ona'disk made from an anti-static material,

such as ceramic or plastic material, fiberboard or-the like, whichrotates in acoiler plate also made from plastic, fiberboard or otheranti-static material.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a coilermechanism of the character last described wherein the opening in whichthe disk of the coilerhead is positionedhas an inwardly projectingannular flange thereon which underlies an outwardly projecting annularflange onthe disk and the proximal surfaces of said flanges are providedwith metal races made from a suitable metallic bearing material so the"race on the disk may rotate in engagement with the race on the coilerplate when the disk is not supported by the coiled sliver in the can or,in the event of failure of other bearing means to maintain theannular'bearing race on the disk in spaced relation abovethe annularbearing race on the coiler plate.

Some of the objects of the invention havingbeen-stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a fragmentary somewhatschematic vertical sectional view taken through a portion of a drawingframe and .the improved coiler head mechanism and the support for thecanand showing the main elevation with the central portion thereof brokenaway;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view taken substantially along line 2-2in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantiallyalong line 3-3 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view similar to the righthand portion ofFigure 3, but showing a second form of race means disposed at the matingshoulders of the antistatic disk and the anti-static'coiler plate;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 showing a third form of racemeans on the mating shoulders of the antistatic disk and the anti-staticcoiler plate.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral indicates oneof the supporting members for the bottom rolls 11 on which top rolls 12rest and through which a roving or sliver S is drawn and attenuated. Theroll support 10 is supported on a channel-shaped frame 14. Sliver S isdrawn through a trumpet 15 mounted in a swingable lever 16 fixed on ashaft '17. Shaft 17 has a finger 20 and a stop motion rod 21 fixedthereon and the trumpet holding lever or member '16 has a projection 22having a set screw 23 mounted therein which is adapted to engage a stopmotion lever 24 also mounted on shaft 17. The free end of .the'stopmotion lever 24 bears against the upper surface of a coiler mountingbracket or spider broadly designated at 25, which will be laterdescribed in detail.

As is well known in the art, the free end of the stop motion lever 24moves upwardly 'to stop the machine upon the sliver coiled in the can Cengaging the lower surface of the tube gear assembly or coiler headmechanism, to be later described. Also, it is apparent that, when thesliver S parts, the pressure applied by its passing through the trumpet15 will cease and allow the member 16 to spring upwardly in the usualmanner, thereby allowing the stop motion rod 20 to swing downwardly atits left-hand end in Figure 1 to stop the machine.

A conventional drawing frame is also equipped with a driven coiler shaftsuitably journaled on an improved coiler plate 31 which is provided inlieu of the usual conventional coiler plate and difiers from theconventional coiler plate primarily in that it is made from anti-staticmaterial such fiberboard, plastic or the like. The improved coiler plateextends substantially throughout the length of the drawing frame and issuitably supported by the channel-shaped frame member 14, such as bymeans of an angle bar 32 and screws 33. The

shaft 30 has abevel gear 34 fixed thereon for each of the coilermechanisms and each bevel gear 34meshes with a bevel gear 35 integralwith a third gear or spur gear 36. The gears 34, 35, 36 are conventionaland the gear 36 meshes with an improved coiler gear to be laterdescribed.

The gears 35, 36 are fixed on the upper end of a substantiallyvertically disposed shaft 37 whose lower end has'a spur gear 40 fixedthereon which meshes with a train of gears, not shown, one of' which, inturn, meshes with a gear 41 fixed on a shaft 45 journaledin a suitableconcave plate 46. The shaft 45 is integral with or suitably secured to aconventional rotatable platform '47 which supports and imparts rotationto the can C.

The parts heretofore described, with the exception of the specificconstruction of the coiler plate 3.1, are conventional and, although theimproved coiler head, to be presently described, is constructedgenerally similar to the coiler head disclosed in said Patent No.2,700,797, many features of its construction are peculiar to the present invention, particularly as to the means for eliminating thedevelopment of static electricity.

The improved coiler plate 31 has a plur'a-lity of studs become worn.

or screws 50 thereon which slidably penetrate the free ends of spider'legs 51 of a coiler mounting bracket or spider 25. A compression spring53 is disposed between the, head of each stud or. screw 50 and the endof the corresponding spiderwleg' 51. The spider'25also comprises a hubportion. 54 integral with or fixed to, the spider legs51 andin'which ismountedithe outer race55 of a sealed anti-friction bearing which has aninner race 56 with suitable balls 57? disposed between the inner andlower portion or base thereof has normally been'disposed on the samelevel as the lower-surface of the conventional coiler plate which, inthis instance, is replaced by the improved anti-static coiler ,plate 31.

1 Now, in order to minimize the creation of static electricity, themetallic circular'base 64 fits in a recess 65 provided therefor in theupper surface of a coiler pressure plate orfdisk-66 which is also madefrom an antistaticzmaterial, such as fiberboard, plastic and the like.Thebase 64 is positioned in the recess 65 in order toinsure-accurate.relativerconcentricity between the disk 66 and the base64. i It will be noted that the base 64 projects upwardly above theuppersurface of the coiler pressure disk 66 and fits snugly in anannular groove 67-provideda on, the inner lowerperipheral edge of anannular coiler gear 70 which is provided in lieu of the usual tubegearandewhich, meshes with the gear 36.

Preferably, the pressure disk 66 is clamped against the lowersurface ofthe base 64and the shoulder formed by thelannular, groove 67 in thecoiler gear70 is clamped against the upper: surface ofthe base 64bymeans of a plurality of circularly spaced screws 71 which penetrate theannular gear 70 and are threadably embedded in the coiler pressure diskor pressure plate 66 outwardly of the periphery of the-base 64.- It willbe noted that the periphery, of the coiler pressure disk issubstantially the same as the periphery of the coiler gear 70, the disk66 being-formed with;a peripheral shoulder 72 thereon which loosely fitsin a corresponding circular opening 73 pro- 1 vided in ,thecoilerplateSl. The wall of the circular opening 73 in the anti-staticcoiler plate 31 also has an inwardlywprojecting.v annular shoulder 74thereon which on the coiler pressure plate or disk 66.

The hub portion 61 of the coiler head body 62 has the open upperend ofan inclined pipe or sliver tube 75 fixed therein whose lower portionextends through the circular base 64 and through the coiler pressuredisk or plate 66. Of course, the sliver S passes through the sliver tube75 in its course from:the trumpet 15 into the coiler can C. Ordinarily,the rotary parts of the coiler head,

, including the coiler head body 62, the disk 66 and the coiler gear70,are supported by the sealed anti-friction bearing comprising-the outerand inner races 55, 56, However, in order to insure that the rotatingparts of the coiler head assembly are properly supported in the eventoffailure of the anti-friction bearing or for any other reason or" ifthe anti-friction bearing is omitted from the assembly for any reason,it is apparent that, since the coiler plate 31 and the coiler pressuredisk or plate 66 are made from a pressed fiberboard or plastic material,the contacting surfaces thereof would not serve satisfactorily, asbearing surfaces, since they would soon Thus, I have provided an annularmetal race of a suitable bearing material on the mating surfaces of theannular shoulders'72, 74, which annular bearing underlies the outwardlyprojecting annular shoulder 72 races are respectively designated at 80,81. The annular bearing race may be suitably secured to the lowersurface of the annular shoulder 72 and the annular bearing race 81 maybe suitably secured to the upper surface of the inwardly projectingannular shoulder 74 on the coiler plate 31. It has been found that theupper annular bearing race 80 may be secured against the shoulder 72 bypressing the same on the lower portion of the pressure disk 66 and,likewise, the lower annular bearing race 81 may be secured in theopening 73 and against the upper surface of the shoulder 74 by a pressedfit. It might be stated that, although a space is shown between theproximal surfaces of the disk 66 and the opening 73, these adjacentparts are actually spaced an imperceptible distance from each other;that is, preferably within a tolerance of five one-thousandths of aninch from each other.

In Figure 4 there is shown a second form of bearing race secured to eachthe shoulder 72 and the shoulder 74 of the coiler pressure disk 66 andthe coiler plate 31. Those parts in Figure 4 which are identical toparts shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 willtbear the same referencecharacters.

The upper bearing race in Figure 4 is indicated at 83 and the lowerbearing race is indicated at 84. As in the form of the invention showninFigure 3, the bearing races 83, 84 are suitably secured against theproximal surfaces of the shoulders 72, 74 of the pressure disk 66 andthe coiler plate 33. The bearing races 83, 84 differ from thebearingraces 80, 81 in that the outer portion of the bearing race 83 has adownwardly projecting annular ridge 85 integral therewith whichencircles an upwardly projecting ridge86 formed on the inner portion ofthe lower annular bearing race 84.

The third form ofcbearing means shown in Figure 5 is also similar tothose shown in Figures 3 and 4 and,

here again, like parts shall bear the same reference char- 7 acters. Theupper and lower annular bearing races in Figure 5 are indicated at 90,91 and the medial portion of the lower surface of the upper annular racehas an anular groove 92 therein, upwardly into which an annular rib 94integral with the medial portion of the lower annular bearing race'91projects.

The flat proximal surfaces of the annular races 80, 81 in the first formof the bearing means are disposed in such close proximity that they willordinarily prevent lint and the like from passing upwardly between thecoiler pressure disk 66 and the coiler plate 31. However, theconfiguration of the proximal surfaces of the bearing races 83, 84 andthe bearing races 90, 91 inthe other two forms of bearing means may bedesirable, in processing short fiber materials such as synthetics tofurther insure that the hut does not pass upwardly between the proximalsurfaces of the corresponding coiler plate 31 and coiler pressure disk66.

It is thus seen that I have provided novel means to prevent the creationof static electricity between the rotating parts of the coiler head andthe stationary parts thereof which means is embodied in a coiler platemade from an anti-static material and which is further embodied in acoiler pressure plate fitting in a circular opening provided in thecoiler plate, which coiler pressure plate is also made from ananti-static material and, also, wherein a novel coiler head constructionis devised to facilitate the use of a coiler pressure plate made fromanti-static material without sacrificing the strength of the rotatingparts of the coiler head.

generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation,the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim: 1. in a coiler mechanism for laying sliver into a can,

a rotatable coiler head having a base thereon and an inclinml slivertube mounted in said coiler head; the combination of a coiler plate madefrom anti-static material and having an opening therein, a coilerpressure disk fixed to the lower surface of said base and looselydisposed in said opening, and said sliver tube also penetrating saidcoiler pressure disk, the coiler pressure disk also being made from ananti-static material whereby the anti-static material in the coilerplate and the pressure disk prevents the creation of static electricityduring rotation of the pressure disk and the coiler head relative to thecoiler plate.

2. In a coiler mechanism for laying sliver into a can, a coiler bodycomprising a circular base, a reduced uprising portion on the centralportion of said base, a stationary spider comprising a hub spaced abovesaid base, bearing means supporting the upper end of said uprisingportion for rotation in said hub, a sliver tube fixed in said uprisingportion at its upper 'end and extending through said base at an angle, adriven gear and a plurality of circularly arranged legs extendingradially outwardly and downwardly from said hub; the combination of animproved coiler plate made from anti-static material and having acircular opening therein, said circular opening being concentric withsaid coiler body and being of substantially greater diameter than saidcircular base, a coiler pressure disk fixed against the lower surface ofsaid base and being loosely mounted in the corresponding opening in saidcoiler plate, said tube also extending through said disk, said pressuredisk being made from an anti-static material, an annular gear fixed tothe upper surface of the coiler pressure disk and engaging thefirst-named gear, and means resiliently securing the lower ends of thelegs of said spider to the upper surface of said coiler plate outwardlyof the periphery of the pressure disk.

3. A structure according to claim 2 wherein said pressure disk isprovided with an outwardly projecting annular shoulder on the upperportion of its periphery, the wall of said opening in the coiler platebeing provided with an inwardly projecting annular shoulder underlyingthe outwardly projecting annular shoulder on the pressure disk, and theproximal surfaces of the shoulders on the pressure disk and on the wallof the opening each having an annular metallic bearing race thereon.

4. In a structure according to claim 2, the upper surface of saidpressure disk having a shallow circular recess therein, said base alsobeing circular and having its lower portion snugly fitting in saidcircular recess, said annular gear having a shoulder formed on its innerlower periphery, and said shoulder fitting snugly in engagement with theperipheral portion of the base whereby to maintain the annular gear andthe pressure disk concentric with the base of the coiler body.

5. In a coiler mechanism for laying sliver into a can; the combinationof a coiler plate made from an electrically non-conductive material andhaving a circular opening therein, a driven rotary coiler head having acircular lower portion loosely disposed in said opening and having aninclined sliver tube therein for guiding and coiling the sliver intosaid can, and at least said lower portion of the coiler head being madefrom an electrically nonconductive material.

6. In a coiler mechanism for laying sliver into a can, a rotatablecoiler head having a base thereon and an inclined sliver tube mounted insaid coiler head; the combination of a coiler plate made fromanti-static material and having an opening therein, a coiler pressuredisk fixed to the lower surface of said base and loosely disposed insaid opening, said sliver tube also penetrating said coiler pressuredisk, the coiler pressure disk also being made from an anti-staticmaterial and being provided with an outwardly projecting annularshoulder on the upper portion of its periphery, the wall of said openingin the coiler plate being provided with an inwardly projecting annularshoulder underlying the outwardly projecting annular shoulder on thepressure disk, and the proximal surfaces of the shoulders on thepressure disk and on the wall of the opening each having an annularmetallic bearing race secured thereagainst whereby the anti-staticmaterial in the coiler plate and the pressure disk prevents the creationof static electricity during rotation of the pressure disk and thecoiler head relative to the coiler plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

